BROADIST
Fashion for Broads
Broadist is a personal style blog rooted in fat activism. We aim to promote self-acceptance by addressing broader bodies and minds. We want to continue to learn how to value ourselves, and help others to do the same. We want radical vulnerability and transformative justice, and we will stand for nothing less.
Origin Story
Broadist was born of my frustration with the style and format of body-positive fashion blogs at the time, specifically on Tumblr.
Everything felt either too polished or low-quality. I didn’t want to see a barrage of poorly lit mirror selfies alongside excellent writing, nor did I want to see high-end, professionally shot, deeply contrived photos next to fluffy proto-influencer advertising.
(It was 2010, Instagram wasn’t around yet.)
There had already been some amazing writing and community building happening online for literal decades — it's what inspired me to create what I wanted to see.
But I didn’t want it on Wordpress or LiVEJOURNAL. I wanted it on Tumblr, where things felt tidy and visually focused. This may go without saying, but fashion blogs were/are almost entirely for thin people.
In early 2011, I put out a tweet to the effect of, “Who wants to talk about this?” and a friend put me in touch with a beacon of light, warmth, and silliness, Roxy Roknian, RIP.
We connected instantly. We had this sort of magical, immediate understanding of each other. We wanted something that was smart, feminist, centered on fat people, sex positive, queer, joyful, inclusive, and honest about our struggles, as well as our triumphs.
We arrived at the name Broadist pretty quickly.
Broad as in fat. Broad as in brazen and loud and unabashed women. Broad as in covering a wide range of experiences.
In late spring we began adding content to the blog and then after 10–15 pieces, we “launched.”
Things took off quickly, garnering thousands of followers in just a couple of weeks. Momentum escalated for the summer months, then Roxy moved back to the West Coast and started law school in the fall. She didn’t have as much time to contribute, and it was hard to maintain Broadist’s initial vibe of equals. Still I posted regularly, Roxy did what she could, and the blog continued to flourish.
By summer 2012 we had 20K followers and I was pretty much running things on my own. And then I landed my first full-time job in the music industry as a radio promoter.
While I had a heavier workload than before, my lifestyle still allowed for fashion blogging, and I began integrating my experiences as a woman in the music industry into Broadist. It was no longer just about fat fashion, but for pretty much any feminist rant I felt like sharing, usually pertaining to music.
By this point, Instagram had entered the picture in full force, and the high-end Tumblr influencers were pivoting.
Past, Present, and Future
In Roxy’s second year of law school, November 2013, she died tragically and unexpectedly. The blog quickly took on the role of helping me manage my grief for the years after.
It became my diary. For whatever little thing I felt like writing, all while still remaining Broadist.
After the 2016 election, writing felt both important and futile. My career in the music industry was peaking, and I had very little free time to tend to the blog. That brings us to now. To a global pandemic. To a new time. With new struggles. And maybe new opportunities.
I can’t pretend to know what the future of Broadist will hold, but its vision hasn’t changed. We’re still out here learning how to value ourselves, holding space for others to follow suit. We still want radical vulnerability and transformative justice, and we will still stand for nothing less.